Reneva Fourie, a Central Committee member of the South African Communist Party, reflects on the SACP’s position on their National Women’s Day.

It is 66 years since 20 000 women, black and white, old and young, working-class and other strata, gathered on 9 August 1956 from across South Africa, by train, bus and taxi, to resist the marginalisation of black women from the economic opportunity and livelihood of the cities through the imposition of passes. The pass laws not only limited the involvement of black men and women in the economy by significantly restricting their movement, they also reduced the status of the vast majority of South Africans. The pass laws permitted harassment, abuse and state repression as people were often arrested for not carrying their passes or simply to destroy their dignity.

This women organised and women-led protest march was but one demonstration of the rich history of women’s active participation in the struggle for liberation and social emancipation. Women selflessly, with sacrifice and commitment, built the organisations of the working-class and of the liberation movement in the country. Women like Dora Tamana, Lilian Ngoyi, and Ray Alexander were active in the Communist Party of South Africa, which became the SACP when banned.

Women like Elizabeth Mafekeng, Frances Baard, Liz Abrahams, and Betty du Toit were leading organisers in the trade unions. And from 1943 women also became more prominent in the organisation that headed the communist-labour-nationalist alliance, namely the African National Congress. In 1954 this alliance mobilised women to champion a vision different to patriarchal apartheid, which found expression in the Women’s Charter. It was thus only natural that women would also become members of and participants in the armed struggle when Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was formed in 1961.

Women remained integral and equal participants in South Africa’s liberation struggle in the decades that followed. Today, women continue to occupy prominent positions in South African politics and in society at large. Zingiswa Losi, also a Central Committee member of the SACP, is the current President of the country’s largest trade Union, the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

The democratic South Africa has had two female Deputy Presidents, both of whom had also acted as Presidents. Women had and continue to occupy senior ministerial positions, including in defence, intelligence, home affairs and international relations. And a number of women serve as Chief Executive Officers in business conglomerates.

The legacy of apartheid oppression and marginalisation however means that many South African women, particularly black, still bare the brunt of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The burden of mass hunger, of inadequate childcare institutions, of inadequate public health services, of inadequate access to water, is carried disproportionately by women. Unequal gender division of labour remains prevalent in our families, in our communities, and in our workplaces. The distress and stress of our communities and families continue to make women vulnerable to gender-based violence.

These conditions however are not unique to South Africa. The struggle for women’s emancipation in South Africa is strongly linked to the struggles of the oppressed across the world. Fundamental transformation requires a path of development that can get us out of the multiple crises of capitalism and which places the lived experiences of working-class women at its centre. The current economic system is one that thrives on demeaning human beings in general, and women in particular.  As South Africans celebrate National Women’s Day, we remain mindful that the impact of women activism will only yield fruit once we organise, and collectively champion a developmental path that will result in a more equitable, peaceful and just world.

Reem Haddad

Editor-in-Chief